Beca Alphabetically
by aussiebabe290
Summary: A look into the life of Beca Mitchell, one for every letter of the alphabet. Jumps from timeframes, covering every aspect of the tiny brunette's life.
1. A Capella and Aca People

**This is Beca Mitchell, a look into her life for every letter of the alphabet (there will be 26 chapters by the time I'm done). The timeframe will jump and be inconsistent- for example, one chapter might be from when she's at Barden and another might be from when she is five years old. I don't know when this will be updated and I am open to prompts (I've got a few letters planned, but the rest will be made up on the spot or ideas from my readers will be used!). **

**I got the idea from amandajbruce, who did this in the Hannah Montana fandom ('Lily, Alphabetically'- check it out, its amazing) and full credit goes to her. **

**Please read and review, and let me know what you think!**

* * *

**A Capella and Aca-People**

Beca Mitchell could sing. But she wasn't that a capella girl. She wasn't into organised nerd singing, and if she was completely honest, she didn't even like social interaction that much.

But there was something about the perkiness of the redhead and the sharpness of the blonde's tongue that intrigued her (not that she'd ever say that out loud). But she thought she had made her mind up- until the redhead burst her way into her shower stall and forced her to sing 'Titanium' (and why did she need to know that it was her lady jam? Gross).

She thought she would hate it.

But she was wrong.

Sure, kidnapping her in the dead of night and making her drink 'the blood of the sisters who came before them' (gross) was a bit over the top and something she could have done without (there was no could have about it, actually, she would happily go without that experience again), but they made her smile.

And while Aubrey gave her a migraine (and she was purposely late to practice every single day, just to make her sigh), they worked well as a team.

"I love you awesome nerds", she had said more than once, and she meant it.

But the thing she loved most about the a capella world?

The aca boy who had somehow weaselled his way into her heart.

"We're gonna have aca children. It's inevitable".

The weirdo movie nerd (her affection nickname for him) had found a place in her world, and if she was completely honest (she would never come out and tell him), she wouldn't want it any other way.

She loved the way he made her sit through movie after movie, bowl of popcorn after bowl of popcorn, only complaining slightly when she nodded off to sleep on his shoulder (to date, the only movie she had sat through completely was _The Breakfast Club_). She loved the way the two were at the station, stacking CDs and complaining the whole way (also, they had defiled the No Sex Desk on more than one occasion- Luke didn't know, and they were going to leave it that way). She loved the way she caught him looking at her when he thought she was focused on something else.

She loved the feeling she got when she was on stage, performing, with her awesome nerds.

She loved the whole aca world.

(Although she hated the way the world aca had snuck its way into her vocabulary and attached itself to words that had previously been without.)

Apparently she was just one of those aca girls.


	2. Blackouts and Bedtime Stories

**Blackouts and Bedtime Stories**

"I can't believe this is ours", Jesse said with a grin, looking around the room. "It's ours, Bec!"

The cramped Los Angeles apartment was piled high with boxes and their mattress was on the lounge room floor, but it was theirs.

"It's ours", Beca confirmed, nodding as he cheesily wrapped her arms around her.

"Let's not unpack tonight", Jesse told her. "Let's just go out and get some dinner and then just go to bed. I'm exhausted".

After a full day of moving (a full day of stepping around boxes, if they were honest), the pair wanted nothing more to crash into bed (their mattress on the living room floor). But they were hungry, and food seemed more important at that moment.

"Let's go". Jesse reached for Beca's hand and she took it, leaning into him slightly. "Watch out Los Angeles, Beca and Jesse have arrived".

"You're such a weirdo", she groaned.

* * *

Jesse pushed the door open, his hand reaching for the light switch. Flicking it on, he frowned, as they continued to stand in darkness.

"This is a dilemma", Jesse said.

"We don't have power, do we?" Beca deadpanned.

"It seems we don't".

"Well". She sighed heavily.

Jesse made his way through the apartment with the light of his phone, reaching for the box at the top of a stack. "You know, I thought my mother was just being paranoid when she told us buy candles, but apparently she's not as crazy as we thought, hey?"

"You're insane", she laughed. "Jesse, we're going to end up burning the place down, it's a fire hazard!"

"It's romantic", he corrected. "Here, hold my phone up for me, so I can see".

Beca held her phone up (stretching up on her tip toes and still not being able to properly reach, much to Jesse's amusement) as Jesse yanked the box down. Tearing at the packing tape, he pulled out a handful of candles (looking very much like he had raided Benji's collection).

"Remember when we first spoke outside the station?" Jesse said brightly, as he flicked the lighter, the flame dancing in the darkness.

"Yeah, you had a big ass candle". Beca smiled at the memory. "Where the hell did you get the big ass candle?"

"Benji".

(It explained so much.)

"It was romantic!" he protested, seeing her eye roll. "Don't give me that look, you loved it".

"I loved the juice".

He broke into a grin. "Strawberry kiwi, right?"

(She looked at him differently when he gave her strawberry kiwi juice pouch, he realised it a few weeks into working at the radio station. He made it his mission from that day on to woo her with strawberry kiwi juice pouches.)

"What are we going to do?" Beca wanted to know, as Jesse flicked the lighter and held them over the candles. A dim light filled the room, and Jesse looked at her.

"We could watch-"

"We are not watching a movie".

"I was gonna say we could watch _The Breakfast Club_".

(Despite his best efforts, _The Breakfast Club_ was the only movie that Beca could stand.)

"No, all your DVDs are still packed and there's no way-"

"They're alphabetized!"

(Of course his DVDs were alphabetized. Of course he had packed his DVDs for a cross country move and alphabetizes them. He was her nerd, after all.)

"We could play Twister!" Jesse said brightly.

"I can't believe you actually bought us Twister", Beca scoffed. "How do you even know where it is?"

"I packed the boxes, sweetheart, I know where everything is".

"Don't sweetheart me". She frowned at him, and he grinned.

"Yes dear".

"We are not playing Twister".

"What about Marco polo?"

"Are we in a pool?"

(Beca hated Marco polo. The last time Fat Amy had insisted on playing it, she had lunged at Beca with such enthusiasm she'd given her a nosebleed. And Beca was yet to forgive her.)

"I've got it!" Jesse picked up a candle. "We could tell ghost stories".

(She was dating a ten year old.)

"Jesse, I'll probably set myself on fire", she objected, tearing open another box and tugging out their doona. Jesse waited until she had it draped over their mattress, before taking her hand.

"Let's go and explore".

She reluctantly squeezed his hand back, following him around the boxes.

They had explored their pint sized apartment in the afternoon while they moved boxes around to make a maze. But there was something thrilling about exploring their apartment by candlelight- they were literally seeing it in another light.

They went around their apartment four times- each time finding something knew and mentally pencilling in where to put something. Jesse had wanted then and there to get out the hammer and the wall hooks to hang up the photo taken the day of Chloe and Aubrey's graduation four years earlier (they hadn't even realised Chloe was taking a photo until she received the email later that day- they both looked so incredibly happy), but Beca managed (with some level of difficulty) to talk him out of it. By the end of their fourth lap, however, they were worn out. So Jesse puffed out the candles and they fell to their mattress.

Beca shivered, as Jesse pulled her closer. "You know what I love about you Bec?"

"What?" she asked curiously, curling into his side?

"How you're so dedicated. Like, to your music and stuff. You get this look on your face after you get a mix just right, and it just makes me happy that you're so happy. It's like at that moment, everything is right with the world".

She smiled, wrapping her arms around him and stretching up to kiss him. "You know what I love about you, Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"You're so passionate. And you're such a weirdo". She giggled against his lips and he pouted.

"You love it".

"I do", she admitted quietly.

The pair lay there in silence for a few minutes, taking in their surroundings and relishing in the fact that for the first time, they were in a place that was solely theirs. They didn't have to worry about the Treblemakers in the next room, or Fat Amy (Beca's roommate for her final three years at Barden) strolling in. their apartment was theirs and no one else's.

"You're tired", Jesse observed, seeing her eyes droop.

"No I'm not", she argued.

(Beca was like a child, she would fight sleep until the last moment when she was with him. When she was without him, she'd nod off without an issue- she clocked her love of sleep right up on the scale, alongside her love for Jesse and her music.)

"Want me to tell you a story?" Jesse asked his sleepy girlfriend, as her eyes threatened to close. Beca shook her head.

"No, I don't want a story".

"I bet you do". He grinned. "Once upon a time- OW!"

(For someone who was so close to sleep, Beca could still pack a punch.)

"Weirdo", she mumbled.

"Fine", he huffed. "I'll sing you a song".

She smiled, curling into his side.

"_A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance that I could make those people dance, and maybe they'd be happy for a while_", he sang softly, rubbing Beca's back to even her breathing.

He hated Aerosmith for making a song about watching people sleep, and he hated Twilight for making it creepy. But Beca looked so peaceful when she slept- it was when she completely let her walls down. For the girl who so rarely smiled, she slept with a permanent grin on her face, curled into his side.

"Welcome home Bec", he whispered, kissing the top of her head. "I love you".

And Beca heard him, halfway between consciousness and dreamland.

She loved him too.


	3. Chloe Beale and Cups

**Cups and Chloe Beale**

"See you at auditions!"

Who in the name of all that was good and holy in the world barges into a complete stranger's shower? That was what Beca Mitchell wanted to know. And not only did the redhead burst into her shower- the shower of a complete stranger- she demanded to sing. She demanded to sing and flat out told her that she wasn't leaving until she sang.

(Beca wanted to scream and reach for her BU rape whistle, but she thought that she would be safe in the thirty second walk from Baker Hall to the showers. Clearly not. What kind of college had her father sent her to?)

And yet- perhaps scared for her life- she awkwardly made her way to the a capella auditions, standing back and watching the nerds (including the super nerd she had met at the station, the same nerd who had serenaded with Kansas her from his car).

She wasn't about to get out there and belt out Kelly Clarkson, like the friendly Australian she met at the Barden DJs booth (because apparently around Barden, DJ didn't stand for disc jockey. It stood for deaf Jew, and she felt like a moron) or the nerd from the station (and good God, could he sing!). She stood in the wings of the stage, awkwardly shuffling, trying to decide whether or not to march out onto the stage with all the confidence she didn't have, until that redhead spoke up.

"Wait, there's one more!"

(Apparently, those blue eyes had x-ray vision.)

"I didn't know I had to prepare that song", she said awkwardly.

"That's okay! Sing anything you want!"

(No girl could be that happy all the time. She and Jesse would be the perfect happy couple and they could have happy happy children together.)

She reached out for the yellow cup. "Can I-"

Chloe nodded enthusiastically, and Beca took a seat cross legged on the stage.

They had told her she could sing anything she wanted.

(The uptight blonde beside the redhead looked like she wanted to punch her in the head. The fake smile she had received at the activities fair was replaced by a scowl.)

"I_ got my ticket for the long way round, two bottle of whiskey for the way. And I sure would like some sweet company, and I'm leaving tomorrow, what do you say_?"

The redhead's grin grew even bigger, and the blonde's scowl darkened.

* * *

Kimmy Jin had left an hour earlier, going somewhere with her Korean friends (Beca didn't care). So Beca put her big headphones on and sat down at her desk, the thumping bass line filtering through her headphones and blocking out the world.

Which was probably the worst thing she could ever do.

Because before she knew it her chair was spun around and she came face to face with the redhead from the showers. Her heart leapt up into her mouth and she didn't even know how to react.

Beca let out a blood curdling scream, jumping up, her headphones holding her back. Ripping them off, she leapt up onto the bed, holding her BU rape whistle to her lips.

"Dude!" she said finally, once she was eighty percent sure her internal organs were back in their respective spots ("swallow your heart, Beca, I'm sure it'll slot right back into place"). "What the hell is wrong with you, get out!"

"Good news!"

"Get out!" Beca fell to the mattress, her heart thumping.

(Apparently, nowhere was safe in that university. She was going to have to install a few extra locks on the door.)

"Guess what?"

Her chances of getting the redhead out of her dorm without guessing, she assumed, were little to none. So she just sighed heavily, her hand inching towards her rape whistle, not meeting the redhead's eyes.

"What?"

"You're a Barden Bella!"

"Sweet Jesus", Beca yelped, as the other girl went to hug her. "Dude! I don't even know your name!"

(How was it, that out of the three people she had met at Barden, she had managed to find the coldest, the nerdiest and the friendliest? And the friendliest possibly was her stalker?)

"Oh!" she stopped moving towards her, sticking her hand out. "I'm Chloe".

"Beca", she muttered in reply, gingerly taking her hand. "Why- how did you get into my room?"

"You should lock the door; you don't know what kind of crazies are out there". Chloe's blue eyes twinkled and Beca didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the girl standing opposite her.

"Why are you in my room?"

"You're a Barden Bella now! Well, you will be in like an hour".

"Wait, what?"

"aca-initiation night!" and Chloe produced a yellow bag- pillow case- out of her pocket.

"What the hell? Dude!" Beca backed away, pressed up against the wall.

She was going to be tied up and gagged and killed in her own dorm room. Paranoid? Perhaps. But there was a crazy in her room and she didn't know what to think.

"No, its Bellas tradition", she explained, plopping down beside Beca on the bed (making the tiny brunette scoot over). "It's alright, Aubrey take it off as soon as we get there. Can you teach me the cup thing?"

"What?"

"The cup thing! That was aca-amazing! can you teach me?"

"Dude-"

"Please?" and she turned on the puppy dog eyes that Beca was fairly certain her younger cousin had invented (she had babysat the kid once and she had somehow talked Beca into telling bedtime stories- freaking bedtime stories- until ten thirty at night).

Sighing heavily, she grabbed her cup of pens of the desk. "Fine. On one condition?"

"Anything", Chloe said confidently.

"You stop sneaking up on me", she accused. "No more breaking into my shower or my dorm room or- no more breaking in!"

"Deal". Chloe grinned, holding her hand out to shake on it.

"We're gonna be really fast friends", Chloe told her and Beca just nodded, forcing away a smile.


	4. Donuts

**Any prompts? Review, PM me or tweet me! ( RhyleighGrace) :)**

* * *

**Donuts**

Upon meeting that aca-nerd known as Jesse Swanson, Beca was told that she hated movies and sugary goodness. But Jesse didn't know anything.

Because donuts were her weakness.

The round, sugary pastries were possibly her favourite food in the world (aside from Taco Bell). Every birthday as a child, she would ask for donuts sprinkled in icing sugar, rather than a cake. Granted, they were harder to stick candles into (her fifth birthday, she remembered very vividly, her father growling in exasperation as he tried to shoved the candles into the powdery white pastries, Beca hovering over him and telling him not to smear the sugar Daddy), but there was something about them that she loved.

* * *

Jesse noticed a lot about Beca. He noticed her makeup and her changes in attitude and her amazingly scary earspike (which scared the hell out of him, if he was honest). He was very observant when it came to the tiny brunette, and she was well aware of it.

(Borderline creepy, she thought. But that was okay. He seemed harmless enough.)

And he hadn't not noticed her love of the sugary pastries. Because when they left the station (Jesse lingering behind to walk with her), she often pulled one out of her backpack.

"What's with the donuts?" Jesse said, as he pulled out a juice pouch for himself.

"What's with the juice pouches?" she retorted.

"Touché".

* * *

"Hey weirdo", Jesse said cheerfully, tossing a juice pouch to her.

"Thank you".

Fumbling a little, she caught it, before unzipping her own backpack. Pulling out two donuts, she offered him a pastry. Jesse took it with an ear to ear grin, beaming at her.

"We're best friends, aren't we?"

She didn't answer, piercing the straw through her juice pouch.

"I called it. Best friends and or lovers", he said, hoping to get a rise out of her (because nothing wound her up more than telling her that one day they'd be lovers).

"Don't say lovers". She bit into the donut and he just grinned at her. She rolled her eyes, chewing slowly.

* * *

He left her juice pouches.

She left him donuts.

Was it their thing?

Perhaps.

(Under no means was Aubrey Posen to find out.)

* * *

On the night that the Bellas creamed the Trebles (Beca's words, and Jesse retorted with a grin and 'you wouldn't have gotten anywhere without our song'- prompting screeches 'YOU HAVE A SONG?' from Chloe, Aubrey, Fat Amy, Cynthia Rose and Stacie, to which Beca hastened to tell them otherwise), they ordered celebratory pizza and donuts.

"So how long has this been going on?" Aubrey pointed suspiciously to Beca, who was perched in Jesse's lap. The boy's arms were wrapped around his waist, as if afraid to let her go. Beca smiled sheepishly, and Aubrey's eyes widened.

(How had it been going on under her nose without her knowing?)

"Aubrey, let it go", Chloe told her, and Aubrey sighed.

Beca reached for a donut and took a bite, leaning back against Jesse's chest (because she was small enough to fit comfortably in his arms). Jesse leaned over her shoulder to take a bite and Fat Amy gasped audibly.

"That's love", Benji confirmed, nodding. "As if she'd let anyone else do that!"

Stacie cooed (because Fat Amy owed her twenty bucks and there was no way she'd let the Australian forget), making Beca blush.

* * *

"Happy birthday Beca!"

It was a minute past midnight on the eighth of August, and Jesse was obnoxiously warbling down the phone.

(He knew he was risking death calling her in the middle of the night and interrupting her sleep, but it was her birthday and there was no chance he was going to miss the occasion.)

"Douche", she croaked, her voice thick with sleep. "What's your problem?"

"It's your birthday!" he said, sounding genuinely surprised that she needed to ask. "And I wanted to hear your voice".

"We talked yesterday", she grumbled, rubbing her eyes and trying to heave herself off the mountain of pillows she buried herself in. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just calling to say happy birthday", he said brightly. "And let you know that your present should be arriving later".

(Beca didn't class it as the next day until it was daylight. It was two minutes past midnight and Jesse was a douchebag- a sweet douche, but a douchebag nonetheless.)

"Thanks weirdo", she yawned.

"Anyway, I'll let you get some sleep. Talk to you later, alright? Happy birthday Becs, love you".

"Love you", she mumbled, sounding like she was already asleep. Jesse just grinned, knowing exactly what would be arriving at her house later that day.

* * *

"Beca, there's something here for you!" her father called, and Beca came down the stairs.

"What?"

He held out two boxes and a bunch of flowers. She rolled her eyes. "Jesse".

"Thought so". Her father grinned, and Beca took the boxes and flowers from his arms. Setting them on the dining room table, she slit open the bigger of the two boxes. Inside was a stack of DVDs (because he was determined she was to continue her movication during the summer), a box of microwave popcorn (because what was a movie without popcorn?), a small bundle of new USB drives (because she had been sending him songs all summer and was running low) and a card that was almost bigger than the box.

"Weirdo", she chuckled.

The smaller box was one she recognised- it was one from the bakery near her father's house. Frowning slightly, she opened it and found seventeen round, glazed donuts, 'happy birthday Beca' in black piping.

"He's one of a kind", her father said with a small smile, and Beca nodded, a smile creeping onto her face.

"He's a weirdo", she agreed. Taking the donut with the letter H iced on it, she bit into it and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

When Jesse's phone hummed with a text message, he broke into a grin.

**Thanks weirdo, love you**


	5. Early Mornings

**Early Mornings**

Right from the get go, Beca Mitchell loved sleep. She regarded sleep as high in her life as she placed her music. It didn't mean she spent all her time sleeping, but to put it simply, you risked death if you woke her.

(She knew she'd have a bad time at Barden. Because her classes were early and Beca didn't do early. Or even semi-early. Anywhere before lunchtime was considered breaking into her sleeping patterns.)

And then she met Jesse Swanson, who was the perkiest, cheeriest, most morning person in Georgia and possibly in the world.

"Good morning!" Jesse said brightly, as she shuffled into the station at seven thirty (for their only early shift). She just stared at him with a look that would make the devil himself cower, taking in the crates of CDs.

(How were there always so many CDs? Did Luke go around and pull them out just to give them something to do? She bet he did, the asshole.)

"Does he not know the alphabet?" she grumbled, pulling out a small pile to see Justin Beiber's face staring back at her.

"So I was thinking we should watch Rocky next", Jesse said (sounding more like he was talking to himself, rather than to Beca). "Yeah, to continue your movication, I think we'll watch Rocky. What do you think, Beca?"

(He knew early mornings weren't her thing, but he tried his best to engage her in conversation. Because Luke would have a field day if he came out and found her napping against a shelf.)

"Jesse?"

"Yeah?" he glanced over at her.

"I don't care".

"I'm hurt, Bec". He feigned pain, his smile giving him away.

"Please, you're always hurt". Her eyes twinkled, despite the deadpan look on her face.

* * *

**Good morning! Enjoy Bellas practice, I'll see you at the station.**

Who the hell did Jesse Swanson think he was?

He had texted her at seven thirty.

Seven thirty a.m.

He had texted her and woken her up.

So, she furiously called him and waited impatiently for him to answer.

"You jerk!" she croaked once he answered.

"Good morning!" Jesse said brightly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded.

"I figure the last thing you need after yesterday's little workout is to be late and need to do cardio wearing the heels that, I quote, the devil designed". Jesse shrugged.

She frowned slightly, looking down at the blisters on her bare feet that still burned.

(The last thing she needed was to deepen the blisters.)

"I'll see you at the station", she said instead, putting the phone down.

"See you later Beca", Jesse said into thin air.

* * *

Somehow amidst the goings on within Barden University, Beca got used to the early morning texts.

It didn't mean she liked it, but she had gotten used to them.

Sometimes, he just texted her 'good morning'.

(Jesse had learned from his movies that if you texted a girl good morning, you had the ability to make her entire day.)

Other times, he continued their banter from the day before.

Sometimes it was just a smiley face.

Either way, with every text, Beca found the boy weaselling himself a little further into her heart.

* * *

During spring break, she didn't receive one message.

And that was what hurt the most.

* * *

On the night after the finals, despite him being in the next room, he still texted her. He texted her good night.

And he texted her good morning.

(Aubrey, being an actual morning person, saw the phone light up and woke up Chloe just to grumble 'I told you she had a toner for Jesse'.)

(Beca chose to ignore her.)

"Awww", Stacie cooed. "Beca's in love!"

"Shut up Stacie".

"Awww!" Fat Amy grinned.

(They all made note of Beca not denying it.)

* * *

"Good morning", Jesse whispered to her, and she buried down a little further into the blankets, leaning against him. Smiling sleepily, her eyes met his, and he wrapped his arms a little tighter around her.

(If that was what she was going to wake up to, she might even become a morning person.)


	6. Flu Induced Fevers

**Flu Induced Fevers**

Beca knew she wasn't one hundred percent during Bellas rehearsal on Wednesday night. Her whole body was sore and she had no energy (and even Aubrey could see that she wasn't slacking off just to slack off).

So when she woke up on Thursday morning with a stuffy nose, scratchy throat, pounding head and aching bones, she wasn't surprised. She wasn't happy, but she wasn't surprised.

Rolling over, she buried herself in her mountain of pillows and blankets, closing her eyes and ignoring the world. But after a few moments of her head pounding, she emerged from the blankets (shivering), shuffling over to her desk. Groaning at the effort, she plucked a box of Tylenol and swallowed two, wincing. Looking at the clock (realising that she was actually never up that early); she picked up her phone, sending a quick text to Jesse.

**Not coming to the station today, I'm sick. Sorry.**

Jesse's reply popped up on her phone almost immediately.

**Ok, I'll let Luke know. Hope you feel better! Do you want me to bring you anything?**

She fell back onto her bed, curling up underneath the blankets.

**Thanks. No it's ok. See you later.**

Letting Chloe know (because Aubrey would have a fit if she didn't turn up to practice), she set the phone aside, burying herself underneath the blankets and waiting for the Tylenol to stop her head pounding and her body aching.

* * *

She was a little dramatic when she was sick. She was the first to admit it. But excuse her for wanting a little sympathy.

(And she was not getting sympathy from Kimmy Jin. The Asian had taken one look at her and escaped, probably going to stay with one of her Korean friends or something. Beca didn't know and she didn't care.)

She looked like shit. Upon standing up (and regretting it) she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Purple bags hung under her eyes (making it look like she hadn't slept in a month), her nose was red and raw, her throat burned and she had absolutely no energy.

So when there was a knock at the door, she just groaned.

"Go away", she croaked.

"Beca, its Chloe", the redhead said sweetly. "I'm just coming to check on you".

Groaning, she rolled off the bed and shuffled towards the door, opening it a crack.

"Hi!" Chloe said brightly.

"Hi", Beca grumbled. "What's up?"

"I just came to check on you", Chloe said in surprise. "I didn't think Kimmy Jin would care, so I thought it would be best if I brought around some more Tylenol". She held up a box and Beca accepted it gratefully, knowing there was only two left in her own box.

"Thanks".

"Aubrey says she doesn't want you at practice until you're completely well again, for the risk of spreading it among the other Bellas", Chloe continued (and the way that she furrowed her eyebrows made Beca one hundred percent certain that her words were quoting Aubrey), "But she says she hopes you feel better soon".

"Thanks", she repeated, leaning against the wall (her head pounding).

"Anyway, I'm going to get back to practice, alright, but I really do hope you feel better soon". Chloe hugged her quickly, kissing her forehead (wincing at how hot it was, there was no doubting the girl was sick). "See ya later Becs".

"Bye Chloe", she whispered.

Once the redhead had disappeared from sight, she closed the door and crawled into bed, groaning when her phone buzzed beside her. Wriggling under the blankets, shivering from the fever, she slid her thumb across the screen, opening up a new text from Jesse.

**Hey Becs, hope you're feeling better. If you're awake let me know, I've got some things for you**

Sighing heavily, she typed out a reply, pressing send quickly.

**Sure.**

* * *

Somewhere in between sending the message and Jesse knocking on the door, she fell asleep. It was Jesse's knock that woke her up, startling her and her blanket sliding to the floor. Picking it up and wrapping it around her shoulders, she shuffled towards the door, opening it a crack.

"Hey Becs"! He said brightly.

(The moment she saw him was the moment she realised that she wasn't wearing a scrap of makeup, and was still in her pyjamas. Her purple pyjamas with the penguins on the pants.)

"Hi", she croaked, stepping aside to let him in. "Don't say anything".

But, as usual, he didn't listen. "You look awful", he said honestly, dropping the bags he was carrying to feel her forehead. She shied away from his cool palm, frowning and sitting back down on the bed, crossing her legs and tucking the blankets around her.

"What are you doing here?" she said finally.

"Oh". He knelt down, ferretting through the selection of bags he had been holding. "You said you were sick, and I didn't think Kimmy Jin was going to care what was wrong with you. So I took it upon myself, as your best friend and or lover-"

"Don't say lover".

"- to make sure that you get well as soon as possible". He grinned at her. "I mean, there was no one at the station to talk to!"

"What about Luke?"

"He hates me, the only reason he wants me to stick around is to be his lunch bitch".

(It was true.)

Jesse produced a bottle of Vicks, holding it out to her. "Vicks and Tylenol Cold and Flu, how does that sound?"

She reached out for the bottle of Vicks, taking it with probably too much enthusiasm.

"Dry biscuits, because I didn't know how your stomach would take it and whether or not you were spewy sick or just flu sick", Jesse continued, producing a box of crackers. "Juice pouches, because you need to keep up your vitamin levels".

"Uh huh".

(How many vitamins were in juice pouches, anyway? That's what she wanted to know. She didn't think there were that many, but Jesse was always bouncing with health, so maybe the boy was onto something.)

"Sprite, to settle your stomach. Again, I wasn't sure how sick you were".

She nodded.

"My laptop and a selection of awesome DVDs, because we may as well take this opportunity to continue your movication".

She groaned a little (Jesse chose to ignore it). "Jesse, I'm sick", she croaked. "No movies".

(What was wrong with her?)

"I'm hurt".

"Of course you are".

(It was unbelievable, she was dying and yet she was still able to roll her eyes at him. That girl was a piece of work.)

"And ice cream, because everyone needs ice cream when they're sick". He held up a tub of vanilla ice cream and a bottle of hot fudge sauce.

(He remembered that hot fudge was her favourite. That was sweet of him, she had to admit it.)

"No ice cream". She shook her head. "I'm not hungry".

"You're not gonna throw up, are you?" he asked, concerned.

"No, I'm not hungry". She shook her head,

Her stomach ached and while she didn't feel sick to it, she felt that if she ate something she would most likely throw it back up, and she didn't want to do that.

"Okay, no food", he agreed, setting the biscuits on the desk and shoving the ice cream into the mini fridge and freezer that he was sure Kimmy Jin wouldn't share with Beca. "Let's just watch a movie".

"You came over here while I was dying to torture me?" she whined.

"It's _ET_, Beca!" his eyes widened, because even she would like _ET_ (he was going to break the unbreakable Beca Mitchell, even if it killed him. It most probably would). "You'll love it".

So, ignoring her complaints, he slotted the disc into his laptop, settling onto the bed beside her (ignoring her warnings of how the blankets were probably covered in her germs by now and that he was risking his own health and well-being in favour of torturing her). He glued his eyes to the screen, a comical stream of trivia pouring from his mouth, and Beca sighed, resignedly.

Curling up in her bed (to keep herself warm because she was freezing and covered in goosebumps), she rested her head on the pillows, barely focusing on the movie.

"You cold?" he questioned, and she just nodded, trying to keep her teeth from chattering.

"Mmm hmm".

"I'm not adjusting the heating in here, because when your fever breaks you'll be sweating and the heat will only make it worse", he told her, the voice of experience. But he tugged off his Treble hoodie and offered it to her. "Put this on, it's already warm because I've been wearing it all day".

"You'll be cold", she protested, keeping her arms tucked under her blankets.

"Just take it, it's warm in here". He smiled at her, a genuine smile, and she took the hoodie off him, tugging it on.

(It was about eighteen sizes too big but it was warm and smelled like Jesse.)

(That was the moment that Beca Mitchell realised that having Jesse Swanson around wasn't such a bad thing.)

"Hey Jess?" she murmured, her voice barely a whisper (at that point, Lily was probably louder than her).

"Yeah?" Jesse looked up and over at the tiny girl, all curled up and comfy in her bed.

"Thanks for being here today", she said softly, her eyelids drooping and making her look younger than she was.

"Wouldn't want to be anywhere else", he said with a grin.

She smiled at him, a smile that he had never seen before. "Thank you", she whispered again.

(He wasn't sure, but he was about ninety nine percent positive that that was the moment that he completely, one hundred percent fell head over heels in love with the mystery that was Beca Mitchell.)

As she succumbed to sleep (knowing that she'd been fighting it just so they could talk), he smiled at her. He hated that Aerosmith had made watching people while they sleep popular, and he hated that Twilight had made it creepy.

The Beca in the bed was so different to the badass he saw at the station. Her eyes were not outlined in the black eyeliner and dark eye shadow, and she seemed even smaller than usual in her purple pyjamas pants (with penguins. Beca Mitchell wore pyjamas adorned with cartoon penguins). She looked peaceful, despite the rattle he heard every time her breathing hitched and the flush in her cheeks that was solely due to the fever she was running.

"Sleep tight Beca", Jesse said softly, brushing back a sweaty lock of hair. Closing his laptop and easing himself of the bed carefully as to not wake her up, he pulled the blankets up tighter over her. He pressed his hand to her forehead, feeling the fever radiating off her, vowing to return when she woke up.

Scrawling on a sticky note, he slapped it to a water bottle and left it within arm's reach of the tiny brunette. He hated to leave her, but he knew he had to- knowing his luck Chloe or Fat Amy or Stacie would come to check up on her, and explaining why he was there would not be an easy thing to do.

"Get better, Bec", he told her, picking up his backpack and closing the door beside her.

* * *

Beca woke up to a cold spot where Jesse had been sitting, and she frowned slightly, because she had gotten used to having him around. Shivering and stretching, she reached out to grab her water bottle and found a sticky note attached to it.

_Sleep tight Becs _

She smiled to herself, despite her pounding head. Checking her phone, she found a multitude of messages from Chloe and the rest of the Bellas, wondering if she was still alive, why she wasn't answering, and the threat that if she didn't reply by seven p.m, they would be breaking into her dorm to see if she was alive. Chloe wanted to know if she wanted anything, and that she would stop by the café to get chicken noodle soup for her.

(Beca generally scarfed chicken noodle soup like there was an international shortage when she was sick, but right then the thought of food made her ill to her stomach. And anyone who knew her knew that she had to be sick when she denied food.)

**Don't come over, I don't want to spread my germs and risk the wrath of Aubrey. Not hungry. A friend dropped food over for me earlier, don't worry about it. I'm alive but won't be at rehearsals. Bec **

(Aubrey would have a field day if she knew that Jesse had spent the afternoon sitting on her bed watching movies with her.)

Lying back down in her bed with earphones in her ears, she nodded off to sleep, feeling a lot lonelier than she had that afternoon.

* * *

There was a knock at Beca's dorm door the next morning, and she let out a croak.

"Who is it?"

"Morning weirdo!" Jesse let himself in without an issue, frowning when he saw Beca curled under the blankets. "You feeling any better, Bec?"

She shook her head, wheezing a little. "Those tablets made my stomach hurt", she informed him (sounding nasally and very much like an eight year old boy, she thought).

"Oh". He frowned. "Well, we could eat ice cream and watch a movie".

"That's not going to make my stomach feel any better", she said, her frown even bigger. But then she broke into a small smile. "But I like the way you think". She shivered, and his hand reached out to touch her forehead.

"You're really hot", he told her, and her cheeks flushed pink (from fever or not? She couldn't tell). Stepping over to Kimmy Jin's mini fridge and freezer (if the Asian knew that they were making use of her things, she'd probably kill them in their sleep), he pulled out the ice cream and the two plastic bowls and spoons he had stored there the day before. Dishing out an ample amount for the both of them, he joined her on the bed, propping his laptop up on his knees so they could both see. Beca tucked her knees up around her chin, still huddled in the blankets (because her temperature was sky high and seeming unbreakable to Jesse- if she was still like that in the afternoon, he was taking her to the hospital), holding the bowl gingerly.

"Grease", Jesse said, slotting a disc into his laptop's disc drive.

"A musical?" she wailed (croaked. She didn't wail, she croaked).

"Yes", he told her, a grin on his face.

"I swear to God, nerd, if you sing along you will have to leave". She jabbed at the door with her spoon and he broke into a grin.

"No singing", he agreed.

They got through the first fifteen minutes of the movie (Beca choosing to keep quiet and eat her ice cream, Jesse noted- maybe she was too sick to complain?), Jesse's eyes never leaving his laptop screen.

That was, until the breathing beside him became deeper and heavier. Glancing beside him, he found Beca slumped over, her half full ice cream bowl in danger of falling and getting her blankets all sticky. Taking the bowl from her hands, he rearranged her so that she was lying down, propped up only slightly by her mountain of pillows.

"Sleep tight", he told her, plopping back down on the end of the bed with his laptop.

When she woke herself up coughing an hour later, she was surprised to find Jesse handing her a bottle of water. Taking a small sip, she blinked at him (the action looking like it took a lot of effort).

"You're going to get sick", she croaked.

"No I'm not, I have a great immune system".

She tried to focus on the laptop screen, but her head was pounding and her throat ached. Her vision was blurry ("I'm not drunk at all, you're just blurry". She would have chuckled, if she didn't feel like shit), and she was having trouble focusing.

"You've got class", she protested (because Jesse was always guilting her into attending her own classes, how was it fair that he got to miss his?).

"I can miss one class", he told her. "Besides, I was working while you slept".

(He would never tell her, but she looked so peaceful while she slept. Despite the rattly wheeze she had happening and the greenish purple bags under her eyes- that was so not healthy- she looked peaceful and so unlike the badass Beca Mitchell he knew.)

"What time is it?" Beca wanted to know, and Jesse glanced at the time on his laptop.

"Just after one. You've been napping for about an hour". He frowned, touching his hand to her forehead once more. "You should take some more Tylenol, and then we should go to the medical centre".

She shook her head firmly. "No thanks".

"Beca, you're really sick", he pointed out.

"It's just a slight cold-"

"If this is a slight cold, I'd hate to see you when you're really sick", he said sarcastically.

(She was rubbing off on him.)

"I'll be fine", she told him, breaking off into a barking cough. When he just stared pointedly, she sighed. "If I'm not feeling better in the morning we'll go to the doctor?" she said meekly, and Jesse nodded.

"Darn right we will".

The next time she fell asleep, she found herself resting on his shoulder. Jesse didn't bother to move her, because her breathing wasn't nearly as laboured when she was sitting up, and she fitted perfectly. He just tugged the blankets up a little higher over her, as she tried to fight her illness.

He could totally get used to that.

(She was horrified to find that she had somehow moved while she slept to rest against his chest, and Jesse had done nothing to move her. Their compromising position would not have been easy to explain to the Bellas, had they barged in, hardest of all Aubrey Posen.)

(She blamed it on the fever, but she could have got used to that. the nerd was quite a good nurse, when the chance came up. and he was really comfortable.)

(Although saying something like that aloud would alert Aubrey's vocal cord ripping wolves, so she decided to keep that one to herself.)

* * *

A week later, when she was finally feeling well enough to haul herself off her bed and to the station and Bellas practice (and class, under Jesse's insistence), she received a text message from Jesse. He was sick with the same flu that she had had.

(She resisted the urge to tell him that she had told him so. That would be rude, and Beca had made it a general rule never to be rude to the ill.)

So, faking a relapse (and Aubrey wasn't going to risk the health and wellbeing of her Bellas to check on the brunette, did Beca not understand that they had a competition coming up and needed all the rehearsal time they had?), she trotted herself over to Benji and Jesse's dorm, armed with the same necessities that he had brought to her, taking refuge on Jesse's desk chair and making sure that the nerd (her nerd, but she didn't want to sound possessive) didn't die or something.

Because it would really suck not having him around.


	7. Goodbye

Beca Mitchell let out a sigh, opening her eyes from her non-sleep. She sucked as a person. It was official. She officially sucked as a person. And rolling over, she found Jesse Swanson's frozen grin staring back at her.

(it was enough to make her throw the photo frame across the room.)

She had royally screwed up. It was what she did, she understood that, but why did she have to go and screw up the best thing that had ever happened to her?

_I can honestly say you've been on my mind  
Since I woke up today, up today  
I look at your photograph all the time  
These memories come back to life  
And I don't mind_

After a year and a half of knowing the guy, six months of dating and many, many arguments, she had pushed it too far. She had yelled at him at the station to back off (in a similar fashion to the way she had screamed at him at the semi finals in their freshman year), and he had. In true Beca Mitchell fashion, she had pushed him to the point of no return.

_I remember when we kissed  
I still feel it on my lips  
The time that you danced with me  
With no music playing_

He was such a dork. But he was her dork. He was her weirdo.

(She wasn't used to being so possessive, but Jesse Swanson had changed her in so many ways.)

He was the one to force her to sit through cheesy eighties movies that she claimed to hate but secretly loved. He mouthed the words along to The Breakfast Club and while she told him it drove her nuts, it didn't. She loved all his little quirks, she loved his honesty and she loved his reaction to her music.

She loved him.

And she missed him.

_But I remember those simple things  
I remember 'til I cry  
But the one thing I wish I'd forget  
The memory I wanna forget  
Is goodbye_

"Damn it!" she hissed, as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

(Beca Mitchell wasn't a crier. Jesse Swanson had turned her into a soppy wreck.)

Sighing heavily, batted at her face and reached for her headphones. Sliding them over her ears, she turned on her iPod, frowning hard when she heard the familiar opening music.

The last song she had listened to was 'Don't You Forget About Me'.

The last song she had listened to was their freaking song.

(Not that she was admitting they had a song or anything, because they didn't.)

_I woke up this morning and played are song  
And throwing my tears, I sang along  
I picked up the phone and then put it down  
'Cause I know I'm wasting my time  
And I don't mind_

She wanted to call him. But it was probably going to be like spring break of their freshman year, where she called Jesse and left him a bunch of messages and he totally ignored her, despite hearing her messages.

(She was so angry with him about that, couldn't he at least have texted her and told her 'hey Bec, I'm angry with you but I'm not dead in a ditch or in prison'? Apparently not.)

_I remember when we kissed  
I still feel it on my lips  
The time that you danced with me  
With no music playing_

It had been a day and a half. She hadn't spoken to him for a day and a half and she was totally losing her mind. She was not that girl. She was not the girl who had to depend on someone. She was a strong, independent woman who just so happened to be in love with the aca nerd that she had pushed away.

(Because that was what she did. Life was easier that way.)

(But it was really lonely.)

_But I remember the simple things  
I remember 'til I cry  
But the one thing I wish I'd forget  
The memory I wanna forget_

Suddenly, she could hear their song (not that they had a song), and not just through her headphones. Her phone, on the table, was vibrating and flashing and Jesse's freaking ringtone was playing.

(Jesse had an annoyingly frustrating habit of taking her phone and changing the names she had assigned to contacts. Suddenly 'Chloe Beale' was just 'Red' and 'Benji Applebaum' was 'Star Wars Nerd' and Jesse himself was 'Your Sexy Aca Nerd'. Not only had he changed the names, he had assigned ringtones. And whilst some were funny- he had made Aubrey Posen's ringtone a death march, which had made Beca giggle the first time- some were just plain frustrating.)

(He'd still never get her to admit that they had a song.)

_Suddenly my cell phone's blowing up  
With your ringtone  
I hesitate but answer it anyway  
You sound so alone  
And I'm surprised to hear you say_

"Jess?" Beca said in surprise, trying to keep her emotions at bay.

"Bec, I miss you", he blurted out.

_You remember when we kissed  
You still feel it on your lips  
The time that you danced with me  
With no music playing_

"I miss you too", she said softly. "I'm- I'm sorry. I just- I'm so used to people leaving me-"

_You remember the simple things  
We talked 'til we cried  
You said that your biggest regret  
The one thing you wish I'd forget  
Is saying goodbye, saying goodbye  
Ooh, goodbye_

There was a knock at her door that moment and confused, she stood up to answer it. She found Jesse standing sheepishly on the other side, holding a box of microwave popcorn and a DVD case.

"I love you", he whispered, tossing the objects and his phone onto her bed and embracing her in a hug. "And I'm not leaving you".

She put her head on his chest, breathing in his comforting scent.

"I'm never saying goodbye to you, Beca Mitchell", he whispered.


End file.
